*
THE WITCH CAMPS ARE still empty in the daylight, but I am guarded all the same. I will not make it out just to see our success destroyed by a Watcher mutant. I stare at the rusted machines as if my gaze alone will protect us. No one will stop us now.
Finally we cross the bridge. We enter the tree line, and though I want to shout with joy, I keep steady. I won’t relax until we’re high upon my mountain, surrounded by our Tracker traps and hidden from the city below.
Hastily, we unhook the bulging leather sacks straddling the horse’s back, and Tam and Nina, smelling rank and slick with sweat, poke their heads out. Despite my relief, it hurts inside to see that Nina’s face is wet with fresh tears.
I kiss her cheeks and then round to Tam, who doesn’t even look at me as I set him on the ground. He tears his apron off, stomps it into the dirt, and walks away.
A part of me will always hate Salma for this moment.
*
WE ARRIVE AT THE plateau just before sundown. A brook halves the clearing, and on the opposite bank a half-crazed Daphne is poised, aiming a loaded bow at us. She drops it with a clatter. Before I know it, she’s sprinted across the short distance and is hugging me hard.
“Were you going to shoot me?” I ask as the air is squashed from my lungs.
She starts to laugh, but there’s a hiccup in there too.
“I don’t even know how to use it.”
I’ll have to remind myself to teach her later. If she’s going to live out here with us, she’ll need to know how to hunt and defend herself.
I stop myself, shocked that I’ve come to expect that Daphne’s going to live with us. The thought of her moving on to a town like Marhollow bothers me. I think back over the last weeks, but cannot pinpoint the moment I started thinking of her less as a half friend and more as a half sister.
An instant later I’m tackled by Brax, who pins me to the ground with his giant paws. He licks my face and nuzzles his wet nose against my neck. I giggle despite myself and bury my fingers in his coat. Silently, I thank him for giving me hope all these months. For making me remember what’s important.
“Ooh!” yells Nina. “Aya’s got a wolf, Tam!”
He only shrugs.
“You want to meet him?” I ask. Tam shakes his head and stalks to the edge of the stream alone. I rise to follow, but Kiran stops me.
“Give him some space,” he says.
I cast him a narrow look. “You don’t know what he needs. He’s just a kid.”
“Doesn’t look like he’s been a kid for a while.” Kiran removes his dirty shirt to launder, and replaces it with another from his saddlebag. My eyes trail over the bandages on his chest and the bruising that leaks out from beneath them. I look away, embarrassed, and catch sight of a green bottle in his pack he stole from the pharmacy. With a flash of fury I think of Salma.
As much as it pains me, Kiran is right. My little cousin has permanent shadows beneath his eyes. His youth has been stolen by the terrible things he must have seen in the city. I wish I’d been there to protect him.
We sweep the area clean of our tracks and leave at once. The strongest riders take the twins. Nina with Lorcan on the palomino. Tam with Kiran on Dell.
Daphne and I follow on foot. A warm, reckless feeling is expanding inside of me, but I refuse to let it loose. Not yet, I tell myself. There will be time to celebrate once we make it to the mountains. Time for the children to heal. But I think I might erupt as the miles between us and the city add up.
*
AFTER A WHILE NINA trades places with Daphne. She walks beside me, her little warm hand in mine. Every once in a while I catch her looking up at me as if to make sure I’m really here, and when she does, I kiss her head and tell her how brave she is. Behind us, Lorcan leads the palomino while Daphne rests her feet and rides in silence.
As the night darkens, I hear Kiran talking softly to Tam.
“… so Mother Hawk says she’ll give a glass arrow to the first beast to make it across Isor, and whoever wins it won’t ever be hungry again. The bear takes the lead…”
“It wasn’t a bear.”
These are the first words Tam’s spoken since the pharmacy. I slow, but am careful not to turn around and ruin this moment. I’m surprised Kiran remembers this story; it was the one I told Daphne while he was passed out with fever. Hearing mention of it now reminds me of the way my ma used to tell us not to worry because she had the glass arrow. I wish I could tell her I’ve got it now. I’m going to make sure they’re safe and healthy. I’ll do whatever it takes.
“I’m glad to hear it,” says Kiran. “I’m not so keen on bears these days.”
I wince quietly.
“It was a fox,” says Tam. “And a deer.”
“And the fox wins?”
“The deer wins. You talk funny.”
“Not nearly as funny as you.”
“Neely,” copies Tam.
I can’t help it, I laugh into my sleeve.
“Great,” grumbles Kiran.
I want to hear Tam’s voice again. I want him to laugh too, but I realize Lorcan, taking up the rear, has pulled up short. At this warning we all grow very still. The darkness seems to thicken, making it impossible to see more than a few paces away.
Brax backtracks, curving silver tail the last piece of his sleek body swallowed by the night. I wish I could see through those ice-blue eyes to what lurks behind us. To hear what he does, instead of the pulse echoing in my ears.
“Clover?” Daphne whispers, frightened. I hush her.
An instant later we see the narrow beams of the searchlights cutting through the trees.
Trackers.
“Run!” I shove Nina towards Kiran and Tam. He reaches down and pulls her in front of him, and with only a quick, concerned glance my way, turns Dell and sets her galloping into the dark.
Brax begins to bark, a loud warning that ends in a snarl. Fear surges through me. I strain my eyes into the black, but see nothing. Then, Lorcan grabs my waist and hoists me up behind Daphne. One slap on the animal’s rump and we’re off, running full out through the forest.
It’s so dark, I can barely make out the trees as they whip by. Daphne ducks low to avoid the branches, and I cling to her body for dear life, the flex and pump of the horse’s muscles making it near impossible to keep my seat.
Shouts break through the rush of the wind in my ears, and I squeeze my heels harder into the horse’s ribs. The Trackers are close; I can almost feel their breath on my neck.
“Faster!” I urge, not just to Daphne, but to Kiran too, wherever he is. He must get the twins away. My mind turns to Lorcan, left behind with Brax, and I feel like a coward for leaving them, but I have to make sure the twins are safe.
A shot slaps through the trees, too far away to hit us. Another, this time closer. Guns. The telltale echo warns us an instant before the bullet whizzes past my thigh. A loud crack, and a bullet lodges into the trunk of a tree on our right, spraying splinters into my side.
Through it all, I hear the howl. Brax is close; he must be following us.
Daphne’s as low as she can get on the horse’s neck, and I’m pressed flush against her. I don’t turn back now. I can’t. The wind and the lowest branches catch my hair, ripping pieces away, searing me with fresh terror.
Crack! This one followed by a high-pitched yelp.
The cry sinks through right to my bones, and I can’t help it, I don’t even think about it.
I look back.
Just as I’m turning my head, the horse swings around a tree in our path. I slide off the side, Daphne’s cry in my ear. My fingers grasp for anything to right myself, fumbling over the thick wool saddle pad. Daphne grabs my knee just as the horse jumps over a fallen log. For one beat I’m flying, weightless and free. The darkness surrounds me. My arms spin like swinging ropes.
And then I crash.
I hit the log first. My hip connects hard, and the rotting wood collapses under my weight. I roll to a stop, my shirt twisted around my neck. The stars waver and grow dim.
My heart pounds, drowning out all other sounds.
The breath returns and with it, pain. It screams through my body like I’ve jumped into a fire.
“Clover! Aya!”
Who is that? Her voice is unclear. My mouth tastes like copper and my face is wet.
“Aya! Get up, get up!” Daphne’s looking down at me from atop the yellow horse. Foam drips from his muzzle as he chews the bit.
Brax. Panic makes me as strong as a Watcher. I leap to my feet, feeling my muscles flex. My eyes must be bleeding, because I see only red. I must go back for my wolf friend. I have to see what’s happened to him.
But I can’t.
I reach for Daphne’s outstretched hand and hoist my foot into the stirrup just as two more shots ring out.
A ferocious beast appears, black like the sky, fast as a hammer striking a nail. Its muscular chest rams into my body, sending me sprawling again. Its front hooves claw the sky. I scream, realizing I’m about to get trampled, and twist out of the way just as the hooves come down beside my head.
Another horse is coming. I feel the ground shaking with its approach. When I look over my shoulder, I see her. A chestnut mare with white rings around her eyes.
“No!” I shout.
Kiran’s come back for me. Alone.
The familiar twang of an arrow, and then the Tracker atop the black steed gives a muffled grunt and slides off the saddle, landing on the ground with the thud of dead weight. His horse bolts. From where I am, I can see the arrow rising from the right corner of the man’s chest, but when I look up, Kiran’s bow is still notched, and Daphne’s hands are empty. They’re both looking beyond me, and when I follow their line of sight I see another rider.
I jolt up, but stop myself from running when I see the long, dark jacket, stretching to the man’s knees, and the dirt-stained shirt peeking out from his collar.
Lorcan. He’s riding a Tracker’s horse. Before I can think of what this means, another yell comes from the woods. Lorcan turns in the saddle and releases a second arrow. Somewhere in the dark another Tracker falls.
Two, maybe three downed Trackers. All at Lorcan’s hand.
My father has saved us. Almost.
There’s one more. He’d been holding back, behind the other three. Now I see his light whipping away as he escapes towards Glasscaster. We have no time to wait. We must press on before he returns with more bounty hunters.
Lorcan nods at us then spins his horse around and tears after them.
Kiran dismounts and leaves Dell’s reins with Daphne as he approaches the body. He crouches, removing something from the dead man’s coat. As I move closer he crumbles it in his hands and rises to face me.